Economic update for the week ending December 28, 2019

Economic update for the week ending December 28, 2019


Stock markets closed the week at record highs for the 34th time this year -  Although there was not a lot of new data this week, MasterCard reported that retail sales from November 1 to December 24 were up 3.5% from the same period last year. Stock markets are on track to end the year with their largest percentage gains in a decade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 28,645.26, up 0.7% from 28,455.09 last week. It is up 22.8% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 3,240.02, up 0.6% from 3,221.22 last week. It is up 28.5% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 9,006.62, up 0.9% from 8,924.97 last week. The NASDAQ is up 35.7% year to date. 
 
U.S. treasury bond yields slightly lower this week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 1.88%, down from 1.92% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.32%, almost unchanged from 2.34% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates often follow bond yields. 
 
Mortgage rates mostly unchanged this week - The December 26, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported mortgage rates for the most popular loan products as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 3.74%, unchanged from 3.73% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.19%, unchanged from 3.19% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.45%, up from 3.37% last week. 


Author, 

Syd Leibovitch